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The rules behind the board

Every flag on a player page points at one of these. Each is cited to the article and printed page of the 2022-2026 Basic Agreement between MLB and the Players Association, and the link opens the PDF at that page. A few mechanics, such as Rule 5 eligibility, the waiver claim order and the option-year count, sit in the Major League Rules, which the agreement incorporates by reference; those entries name the rule that holds the number. The wording here is ours.

The current agreement (2022-2026) expires 2026-12-01. Whatever replaces it gets its own tag, and the old numbers stay attached to old seasons.

Roster limits

26-man Active List (28 in September) 2022-2026: 26 active players from Opening Day through midnight August 31, minimum 25; 28 from September 1 through the end of the season.; A club that drops below 25 has 48 hours plus reporting time to get back. The 13-pitcher cap (14 in September) and the two-way-player definition sit in Major League Rule 2(b), which this article incorporates. Article XV(E)(1)-(2), p. 71 (number in Major League Rule 2(b))
40-man Reserve List 2022-2026: A club may hold title to and reserve up to 40 player contracts.; Optioned players, 7/10/15-day IL players and DFA'd players (until resolved) all occupy a spot; only the 60-day IL, the restricted, suspended, military and voluntarily-retired lists sit outside the 40. Article XX(A), p. 100
No taxi squads 2022-2026: A player told to report for a possible recall must be added to the active roster by 8 PM ET (or three hours before the game) the day after he reports, or he cannot stay with the club.; He may take one workout without pay or service time. Sending him back without adding him must be justified by a change in circumstances, which is why 'phantom' call-ups stopped after 2022. Article XV(E)(3), p. 72
Post-season roster eligibility 2022-2026: The post-season eligibility list is fixed at noon ET on September 1: everyone on the 40-man, the 60-day IL or the military list at that moment, who then stays there without interruption.; Major League Rule 40; the agreement's Attachment 25 defers post-season procedure to the Major League Rules. A 60-day IL player must have served 60 days and be reinstated before he can play. A player outrighted after the cutoff loses automatic eligibility and can return only as an approved replacement for an injured player, as can any player who was in the organization before the cutoff; replacements need a 40-man spot. A drug-program suspension that year makes a player ineligible. Attachment 25, p. 253 (number in Major League Rule 40)

Injured list

60-day IL and the November crunch 2022-2026: A player on the 60-day IL is off the 40-man, but every 60-day IL player must be reinstated after the World Series, healthy or not.; The CBA fixes the IL paperwork (a Standard Form of Diagnosis, recertification every 10 or 15 days except on the 60-day list); the 60-day minimum, the full-40-man requirement and the fifth-day-after-the-Series reinstatement date are in Major League Rule 2. That reinstatement is what creates the November squeeze before the reserve-list filing and the Rule 5 draft. Article XIII(C), p. 56 (number in Major League Rule 2)
Injured players cannot be sent down 2022-2026: No assignment to a minor-league club while a player is on a Major League injured list, and an injured player who cannot play cannot be optioned or outrighted.; Two windows open it up: after the season and before the reserve-list filing if his contract ends this year (a Super Two may elect free agency instead), and after the filing until 15 days before Opening Day for a player under three years of service with no service last season, no prior outright, and no Rule 5 selection by that club. Article XIX(C)(1)-(2), p. 96
Rehab assignments: 20 days, 30 for pitchers 2022-2026: A rehab assignment needs the player's written consent and runs at most 20 days (30 for pitchers) per injury; UCL reconstructions may add up to three ten-day extensions.; Rehab days count as Major League service at Major League pay, do not use an option, and need no waivers. Article XIX(C)(3), p. 97

Options

Option years and the 20-day rule 2022-2026: A season with fewer than 20 days on optional assignment does not count as an option year, and those days count as Major League service.; The three-option limit itself is Major League Rule 7(c); the CBA sets the 20-day floor and the counting: the day he is optioned counts, the day he is recalled does not (unless the game had already started). Spring-training days are never counted. Article XIX(E) and XXI(B), p. 98 (number in Major League Rule 7(c))
Fourth option 2022-2026: A player who has used three option years but has fewer than five full seasons (90+ days on an active list) receives a fourth option.; This lives in Major League Rule 7(c), incorporated by Article XIX(E). Minor-league injured-list days are not public, so this site follows FanGraphs where it shows a count. Article XIX(E), p. 98 (number in Major League Rule 7(c))
Five optional assignments per season 2022-2026: A player can be optioned at most five times in a season; a sixth trip requires outright waivers.; Major League Rule 7(c), incorporated by Article XIX(E). Spring-training options, a return after serving as the 27th man for a doubleheader, and an option within 24 hours of arriving by trade do not count. Option years left and assignments left are different numbers. Article XIX(E), p. 98 (number in Major League Rule 7(c))
Minimum stay on option 2022-2026: An optioned position player must stay down 10 days, a pitcher 15, unless he replaces an injured or traded player.; Major League Rule 7(c). Trades, waiver claims and the doubleheader 27th man are the other exceptions. Article XIX(E), p. 98 (number in Major League Rule 7(c))
Out of options 2022-2026: With no option years left, the only way to the minors is through irrevocable outright waivers.; This is the single biggest driver of spring DFAs: a club must carry him on the 26-man or risk losing him for $50,000. Article XIX(E) and XIX(F), p. 98 (number in Major League Rules 7 and 8)
Option days when DFA'd or released 2022-2026: If a player is designated or released while on option, the option date is day one and the DFA date is the last day of the option.; The forfeiture trap: a player optioned before accruing any service that season, then released or outrighted before 20 days and never returned to an active list, gets no service for those days at all. Attachment 32 and Article XXI(B), p. 265
Article XIX-A: five years, no forced assignment 2022-2026: A player with five or more years of Major League service cannot be assigned anywhere but another Major League club without his written consent.; The club must give written notice 4 days ahead (8 if he is out of options or it is the off-season); he has 2 days (3 in the off-season) to consent, refuse, or elect free agency, and silence is a refusal. Posted NPB/KBO players usually write the same right into their contracts. Article XIX(A)(2), p. 94
Advance consent to an assignment 2022-2026: A five-year player may pre-approve an assignment to a named club, no earlier than 10 days before the season, good for 45 days.; A player with 4 years and 127 days can grant it before he reaches five years. Every advance consent must keep the free-agency election open, and a minor-league contract cannot be used to extract one. Article XIX(A)(3), p. 95

Waivers & DFA

Designated for assignment: 7 days 2022-2026: A designated player must be released or have his contract assigned within 7 days; he is paid at the Major League rate and credited with Major League service while designated.; Christmas Day through New Year's Day do not count toward the 7 days. The club must request waivers early enough to resolve him inside the window. Article XIX(G), p. 99
Outright waivers 2022-2026: Every assignment must clear the waiver rules of Major League Rule 8: outright waivers are irrevocable, cost $50,000 to claim, and go to the worst record first.; Prior-season standings are used through day 30 of the season, current standings after that. Optional waivers ended in 2017 and trade waivers in 2019. Each Friday the Commissioner's Office reports all waiver activity to the union. Article XIX(F), p. 99 (number in Major League Rule 8)
Article XX-D: the right to walk 2022-2026: A player with three or more years of service (or a Super Two), or any player being outrighted for the second time in his career, may elect free agency instead of accepting the outright.; He may also accept and defer the choice to the end of the season, keeping his salary, unless he is returned to a Major League roster first; a Super Two who accepts a first outright gives up that deferred election. Notice is 4 days (8 if out of options or off-season) with 2 (or 3) days to answer. Article XX(D)(1)-(2), (4), p. 110
Article XIX-A: five years, no forced outright 2022-2026: A player with five or more years of service can refuse an outright assignment altogether; the club must then keep him, trade him, or release him.; Electing free agency instead forfeits termination pay, so the union must confirm that election in writing. Article XIX(A)(2), p. 94
Release waivers and termination pay 2022-2026: A player released in-season is owed the unpaid balance of his full salary; released in spring he gets 30 days' pay (45 after the 16th day before the season); released in the off-season, 30 days' pay.; Release waivers cost $1 to claim but the claimant assumes the whole salary, which is why expensive players clear. What he earns from another club that year offsets the bill, and refusing a reasonable Major League offer forfeits that much. Article IX(A)-(C), (F), p. 35
Which rate a split contract pays at release 2022-2026: On a split contract, termination pay uses the minor-league rate for off-season and early-spring releases and for in-season releases while in the minors; the Major League rate applies late in spring or while in the majors.; A contract may not be optioned just to cut termination pay. A player who cannot be assigned without consent, or a Rule 5 pick, always gets the Major League rate unless actually in the minors when released in-season. Article IX(D), p. 36
Salary floor after a late-season outright 2022-2026: A player with Major League service outrighted after Labor Day cannot be offered less than 80% of his most recent minor-league monthly rate, or the split minimum, whichever is greater.; It caps how cheap a September roster clear-out really is for the club. Attachment 43, p. 309

Rule 5

Rule 5 eligibility 2022-2026: Signed at 18 or younger: eligible at the 5th Rule 5 draft after signing. 19 or older: the 4th. A player previously outrighted is always eligible.; Age is measured on the June 5 before the first contract. This is Major League Rule 5, which the CBA incorporates by reference; a player on the 40-man at the reserve-list filing deadline is protected. Article XVIII(B), p. 93 (number in Major League Rule 5)
Rule 5 selected player 2022-2026: A $100,000 pick is tendered a Major League contract on draft day and must stay on the 26-man for 90 active days (carrying into a second season) or be offered back for $50,000.; He can be traded any time but not optioned. Because he is a tendered Major League player, cutting him in spring costs Major League-rate termination pay, which is why clubs return or trade him instead. Triple-A phase picks ($24,000) need no 40-man spot and carry no offer-back. Attachment 44 and Article IX(D), p. 310 (number in Major League Rule 5)
Draft-Excluded Player 2022-2026: A Rule 5-eligible player with under three years of service added to the 40-man after August 15 cannot be optioned until 20 days before Opening Day.; Major League Rule 6. It stops clubs from protecting a player in September and quietly stashing him in March; he can still be traded, non-tendered or released. Article XVIII(B), p. 93 (number in Major League Rule 6)
Reserve-list filing and the tender deadline 2022-2026: Clubs file their 40-man reserve lists about a week before the tender deadline, which is the last Friday before Thanksgiving at 8 PM ET.; Between filing and the draft, eligible minor leaguers cannot be added, traded or released, and no player may be outrighted from three days before the draft (Major League Rules 1 and 5). Untendered players become free agents that night with no waivers and no termination pay. Article XX(A), p. 101 (number in Major League Rule 1(a))

Service time

172 days is a year 2022-2026: One day of service for each day of the championship season on a Major League active list, injured list or disciplinary suspension; 172 days is a full year and a season caps at 172.; Service runs from the first regularly scheduled game to the last, the same for every club regardless of its schedule. Days on optional assignment count only in a season with fewer than 20 of them. Article XXI(A)-(B), p. 114
Arbitration: 3 to 6 years 2022-2026: A player with three or more but fewer than six years of service may take his salary to final and binding arbitration.; A club cannot cut a tendered player more than 20% from last year or 30% from two years ago, so the only cheap way out of an arbitration-eligible player is a non-tender. Figures are exchanged the second Friday of January; a settled arbitration salary is fully guaranteed against a spring release. Article VI(E)(1)(a), VI(B), p. 17
Super Two 2022-2026: A player with two but fewer than three years of service is arbitration-eligible if he had 86+ days last season and ranks in the top 22% of that group by total service; ties at the line all qualify.; The cutoff is a ranking announced each fall (recent lines 2+118 to 2+140), so a club cannot know in September exactly who qualifies. Super Twos go through arbitration four times. Article VI(E)(1)(b), p. 17
Article XX-B free agency 2022-2026: Six or more years of service with an expiring contract: free agent at 9 AM ET the day after the last World Series game.; For five days only the former club may negotiate (the quiet period). All contract option decisions must fall inside that window. Article XX(B)(1)-(2), p. 102
10-and-5 rights 2022-2026: Ten years of service, the last five with the same club: no trade without his written consent.; A player can waive it only when signing a multi-year deal before qualifying, and only if that deal carries a no-trade list of at least 16 clubs. Article XIX(A)(1), p. 93
Rookie of the Year service credit 2022-2026: A player who entered the season as an Eligible Prospect and finishes first or second in Rookie of the Year voting is credited with a full 172-day year, whatever he actually accrued.; It only applies to players who were top-100 prospects under Major League Rule 4(l), the same test as the Prospect Promotion Incentive draft pick. Ties break on first-place votes, then Joint WAR; at most two players per league. Attachment 53, p. 357
Pre-arbitration bonus pool 2022-2026: A $50 million pool paid by the Commissioner's Office each December to players with under three years of service who were not Super Twos: fixed awards for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and All-MLB finishes, the rest by Joint WAR among the top 100.; Awards range from $2.5 million for an MVP or Cy Young to $500,000 for a Rookie of the Year runner-up, one award per player. It is central money, so it does not touch the player's own club payroll. Article XV(D), p. 68

Contracts

Qualifying offer 2022-2026: A one-year offer at the average of the 125 highest salaries, available only to a free agent who was with the club continuously since Opening Day and has never received one before.; It must be made during the five-day quiet period and can be accepted until the reserve-list filing date. Declining it attaches draft-pick compensation; a player who signs a minor-league deal elsewhere carries none. The amount is set by Attachment 45 and confirmed within ten days of the season's end. Article XX(B)(3), p. 103
Draft-pick compensation 2022-2026: The former club gets a pick after Competitive Balance Round B; after the first round if it is a revenue-sharing payee and the player signed for $50 million or more; after the fourth round if it paid competitive balance tax.; The signing club forfeits its second-highest pick and $500,000 of international pool; a tax payor forfeits its second and fifth picks and $1 million; a revenue-sharing payee forfeits only its third-highest pick. Article XX(B)(4), p. 104
Tender deadline 2022-2026: The last Friday before Thanksgiving: the Commissioner's Office sends the union a letter listing every player each club has tendered, and everyone left off becomes a free agent.; No waivers, no termination pay. It is the one day a club can drop anyone, healthy or hurt, without waiver risk, and re-sign him the same night. Article XX(A), p. 101
Minimum salaries 2022-2026: Major League minimum $700,000 (2022), $720,000 (2023), $740,000 (2024), $760,000 (2025), $780,000 (2026), paid per day on the Major League roster; the minor-league split rate for 40-man players runs $114,100 to $127,100, or $57,200 to $63,600 on a first Major League contract.; Optioning a fringe 40-man player saves real money: his pay drops to the split rate for every day he is down. Article VI(A), p. 11
Maximum salary cut 2022-2026: A tendered or renewed player must be offered at least 80% of last season's salary and 70% of the salary two seasons back; a split rate cannot be cut more than half.; This is why a modest arbitration-eligible player is non-tendered rather than kept at a lower number: the club cannot simply tender him at a steep cut. Article VI(B)(1), p. 12
A settled arbitration salary is guaranteed 2022-2026: An arbitration-eligible player who agrees to a salary before his hearing is owed the full amount if released before Opening Day.; Other spring releases cost 30 or 45 days' pay; this one costs the whole contract, so once an arb-eligible player signs, releasing him saves nothing. Article VI(E)(2)-(3), p. 18

Trades

June 15 no-trade for free-agent signees 2022-2026: A six-year free agent who signs after the quiet period cannot be traded before June 16 of the next season without his written consent, and then only for players and cash of $50,000 or less.; It applies even when he re-signs with his own club. It does not apply to players who became free agents any other way, or who signed minor-league contracts. Article XX(B)(6)(a), p. 109
Trade deadline 2022-2026: No trades of players on Major League contracts from the deadline (late July or early August) until the day after the World Series.; Major League Rule 9. Waiver trades ended in 2019; a player claimed in August cannot be flipped for value. Article XVIII(B), p. 93 (number in Major League Rule 9)
No foreign assignments 2022-2026: A contract cannot be assigned outside the United States and Canada without the player's written consent.; Returning a conditional assignment from abroad is the only exception. Article XIX(D), p. 98

Minor-league free agency

Veteran opt-outs on a minor-league deal 2022-2026: A six-year free agent who signs a minor-league contract at least ten days before Opening Day can force his release four days before Opening Day, on May 1, and on June 1 unless the club adds him to the 26-man or the Major League IL.; He must ask in writing two days ahead (2 PM ET on the sixth day before the season, April 27, May 28). No other opt-out dates can be written into that contract. The former $100,000 retention bonus is gone. Article XX(B)(5), p. 108
Minor-league free agency 2022-2026: A player not on a 40-man who has spent parts of seven seasons on minor-league rosters becomes a free agent five days after the World Series.; Major League Rule 9(b) and the Minor League agreement, not the Basic Agreement. Players first signed at 19 or older from June 2023 reach it after six seasons; a second contract after a release resets the clock. Article XIX(B), p. 95 (number in Major League Rule 9(b))
Rights survive an assignment to the minors 2022-2026: A player sent to the minors keeps every right the Basic Agreement gave him, including his free-agency and consent rights, until he signs a minor-league contract after those rights arise.; So an outrighted six-year veteran still becomes a free agent after the season on schedule. Article XIX(B), p. 95

Source document: the 2022-2026 Basic Agreement as published by the Players Association (original PDF), mirrored here so page links stay stable. Arizona Phil's roster-rules guide at The Cub Reporter remains the best plain-English companion and was the map that pointed us to the right articles.